Boost Your Brand With UGC Videos: Video Marketing Strategies

Video marketing can bring your brand to life, helping you connect with customers in more dynamic, engaging ways than text and images. 

Clutch surveyed 260 respondents in the marketing industry and found that 76% of marketing leaders see video advertising as important to their overall strategy. 

A further 25% use video content to focus on brand storytelling. But how should your business leverage video marketing to achieve its goals?

One effective strategy is encouraging your audience to film, edit, and post their own video content about your business. This user-generated content (UGC) is more authentic than brand-designed clips, helping you form deeper connections with your target customers.

This guide covers everything you need to know to get started. Read on to learn how to leverage UGC video marketing to drive loyalty and expand revenue.

Why UGC Works for Brands

The first question you’ll need to answer is whether UGC video marketing strategies are worth your attention. So, let’s review what you can get out of it. Here are some key benefits:

• Trust and authenticity: UGC videos are filmed, edited, and shared by members of your target audience. This makes them feel more authentic and trustworthy than traditional video ads. It’s why Natalie Henley, CEO and owner of Volume Nine Digital Marketing, says, “The key elements are to make [UGC videos] look and feel real versus over-polished or rehearsed.”
• Cost-effective: UGC can generate organic buzz for your brand at zero cost, which makes it very valuable. You can even incentivize users to create content with special giveaways and discounts. The cost of these will likely be less than you’d spend producing your own video ads to achieve the same reach.
• Social proof: An impressive 69% of consumers now trust product recommendations from influencers they follow. UGC videos are exactly that. They drive sales by creating social proof, showing that your brand is authentic and trustworthy through content created by real customers.
• Community building: When a brand has multiple creators making UGC for it, a digital community forms. This can become a hub for your brand to engage directly with its most loyal customers. The process forms emotional connections by connecting your company with people’s online identities, which can increase your average lifetime value per customer.

Consider what your brand would like to achieve with UGC video marketing. This could impact your strategy. For example, a company that wants to build an online community might start by prioritizing testimonials, brand stories, or case studies from satisfied clients. A company that wants to help customers learn how to use its products, on the other hand, might start with demo videos.

Types of UGC Videos That Drive Results

Clutch data shows that 42% of marketing leaders plan to use more short-form video content for their business. TikTok videos, YouTube Shorts, and Instagram Reels can all be very effective tools for expanding reach. 

But what type of content should you be encouraging and incentivizing on these and other channels? The answer will be influenced by your goals, but will likely include some of the following key types of UGC videos.

Testimonials & Reviews

First, you can encourage your community to post product review videos and brand testimonials. These help your company build trust by providing social proof to validate the value your business offers.

For example, a shoe company might promise a radically more comfortable shoe, but that message may not resonate with its audience until an influencer they trust raves about them. This lowers customer skepticism and can push potential buyers closer to making a purchase.

Data from Clutch shows that 15% of marketing leaders focus on customer testimonials to elevate credibility. Your business may want to adopt a similar strategy. Track engagement rates, review scores, and sentiment in the comment sections to understand how your community feels about your brand.

Unboxing Videos

Many companies also prioritize unboxing videos. These can be a powerful tool for building anticipation and hype, especially when releasing new products. For instance, Apple might send its new iPhone to select influencers early so they can share their unboxings and get the rest of the community excited about the release.

Unboxing videos are especially good for highlighting package quality, showing attention to detail, and producing the kind of “wow” factor that drives social engagement. They can make your product feel more premium and drive hype.

There are also ways to expand an unboxing video into a broader piece of content. For example:

• A company that sells STEM toy boxes might pay a kid influencer to open the box on a video and play with each item
• A clothing company might pay a fashion influencer to unbox a new product line and try on each piece
• A car dealership might share a short-form video that stitches together customers’ reactions to being gifted a new car for Christmas

You could even include something special in select products to create viral moments. For example, a sports collectibles store might give away a valuable autographed rookie card in one random pack. This kind of promotion encourages people to record themselves opening packs, trying to find the prize, and expanding the company’s social reach.

Product Demos

You could also encourage your community to post demonstrations of your product in action. This helps people understand how it works and what benefits they’ll get from purchasing it. 

User-filmed product demos tend to be more persuasive, as they represent an independent view. Christopher Savage, president and founder of Savage Global Marketing, puts it this way: “When UGC is done right, it doesn’t feel like an ad; it feels like a friend sharing something cool.”

Some examples of this type of content in action include:

• A parent showing how to collapse a stroller they just purchased
• An artist using a new digital tablet to sketch something funny or interesting
• A barista demonstrating how to use a new at-home luxury coffee machine

Brand Stories

It’s also worth encouraging your community to share their personal experiences with your brand. These become like mini case studies, showing how your company benefits people from different walks of life.

For example:

• A small business owner might talk about how they generated more website traffic and made more sales after adopting your company’s CRM platform
• A student could talk about how your company's study tool helped them pass a tough course and land their dream job
• A parent could share how your sleep-training product helped their child learn to sleep in their own bed

You can highlight some of these stories on your page and share the creator’s handle to encourage posts. Savage says it’s important not to “force people into following a script; just let them genuinely speak about your brand.” If you don’t like what they say, you don’t have to share it on your page or engage further.

How To Encourage Customers to Create UGC Video Content

There are many different types of UGC videos your community may want to share. But when you’re just starting out, getting anyone to post about your company can feel like an overwhelming task. So, how do you do it? Here are some tips:

• Create shareable moments: You can get more people talking about your brand online by building shareable moments into the customer experience. That could mean creating product packaging that stands out, unique events when new users log into your platform, or anything else that gets people excited. You may need to redesign something like this to reach your UGC goals.
• Develop hashtag campaigns: Build campaigns around hashtags to encourage community members to post. You could offer special discounts, exclusive access, or other benefits relevant to your product or service.
• Host contests and giveaways: You can also run one-time contests and giveaways for the most exclusive prizes. Combine these with a hashtag to keep the conversation in one place and connect everyone who’s interested in your brand. This builds community, which may stay strong even after your giveaway ends.
• Form partnerships with influencers: Some companies pay influencers to post UGC videos. This can be a good strategy if you’re struggling to gain initial traction. Henley says to just “be careful not to overpay influencers for this kind of work.” You don’t want to create a lasting expectation that anyone who posts about your brand should be paid for doing so.

Ultimately, you’ll likely need to either incentivize influencers to post about your brand or give them a great reason to do so for free. That reason will often be tied to helping them create posts that perform well with their community. For instance, a fashion influencer might post about a clothing brand for free if they know their followers will engage because the products stand out so much.

Measuring Success: KPIs for UGC Campaigns

Now, you’re ready to track the performance of your UGC campaigns to get an objective sense of how they’re doing. Here are some key KPIs to consider:

• Engagement rates: How much are people watching, clicking on, commenting under, and sharing your brand’s UGC videos? You may want to compare it to industry benchmarks or past performance to see if your new strategies are working.
• Views & watch time: Views tell you how many people saw a piece of UGC on their feed. Watch time tells you how long the average person from that group engaged with the video. When watch time is low, it signals that the video isn’t doing a good job of holding users’ attention.
• Conversion rates: How often does someone visit your website, purchase a product, or follow your social accounts after viewing a UGC video? If the percentage starts declining, that’s a sign it’s time to change tactics.
• Brand sentiment and mentions: You can track keywords to get an objective sense of how people feel about your brand generally. It’s also worth looking directly at individual posts to catch the nuance in users’ perspectives.

Consider which is the most important when planning out your team’s metrics. 

The Importance of UGC to Video Marketing

User-generated content is an essential addition to modern video marketing campaigns. You need real people talking about your brand to cut through the noise, connect with online communities, and drive conversions. 

UGC also helps your brand appear more authentic, trustworthy, and creative. But getting people to record, edit, and share videos about your brand isn’t always easy. You may need to start with paid influencer campaigns or incentivize your audience with special deals.

Your best bet is to start small so you can experiment with minimal financial risk. Find the type of content and creators that work best for your brand, and then put more resources into it once you know the content will generate a solid ROI. 

It may even be worth partnering with an agency that can help you connect with influencers in your niche. Just remember to track KPIs over time so you have an objective sense of your performance.

About the Author

Anna Peck Content Marketing Manager at Clutch

Anna Peck is a content marketing manager at Clutch, where she crafts content on digital marketing, SEO, and public relations. In addition to editing and producing engaging B2B content, she plays a key role in Clutch’s awards program and contributed content efforts. Originally joining Clutch as part of the reviews team, she now focuses on developing SEO-driven content strategies that offer valuable insights to B2B buyers seeking the best service providers.

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